Her words still play in my head. How can I trust you?
I didn't even know how to answer her, I wanted to tell her how madly obsessed I was with her. How whenever I smelled strawberries it reminded me of the scent of her hair. That Id go to great lengths to make sure she and Ophelia were happy.
I realized that everything from my past fucked me up. My father never taught me how to communicate, hell he never even displayed a normal relationship with my mother. I don't want to make him a scapegoat for my problems, but I wish—just a tiny bit—that I could be normal enough for Juliette.
She didn't have practice today, only press interviews. She was running around all morning trying to get ready, whilst also planning Ophelia's birthday party. The soon to be four year old was clueless of how extensive party planning was. I didn't even know.
Normal birthday parties weren't common on the military bases I grew up in. Sometimes one of the moms would make a cake for the kids, but it'd be boxed cake mix and the extra sugary icing that made your teeth rot if you ate to much. It wasn't until I got older and I heard stories from my college buddies about their birthdays, that realized how unnatural my birthdays were.
Nonetheless, this lack of tradition didn't stop me from planning a John Wick themed party. Yes, Ophelia wanted her birthday theme to be John Wick. Am still trying to comprehend how such a cute little kid would watched some pretty fucked up movies.
"Are you sure you don't want princesses? Or maybe superhero's?" I ask as we walk through Party City trying to find the stuff she needs. Obviously this place is not going to have anything for the theme. Juliette even sent me her Pinterest board to get some inspiration.
As I look at my phone, I'm noticing a lot of dark purples and black. So I grabbed a couple of streamers in those colors, along with fake blood from whatever was put out for the early halloween displays. To make it normal—in the words of Jules—and not have the other parents call CPS on her, she made it glow in the dark themed.
So I grabbed a couple of party favors such as necklaces, glasses, straws, and squishy toys—which all glowed in the dark. Ophelia was in toddler heaven in the candy isle while I shopped around with a cart full of insane things.
"Philly," I call out as I walked into the isle with a big gum ball machine that was as tall as the warehouse-type-store.
"Here!" She calls back, and I find her filling a bag with candy while a sweet lady helped her pick it out. She had a workers uniform and her name tag read Clarissa. Her shaggy blonde hair was covering the sides of her face as she bent down to point to another type of candy.
I watch over them as the girl gives me a kind smile, but Ophelia doesn't even spare me a glance as she picks through the chocolate coins in the gold foil wrapping. I grabbed a big variety pack of candy to add into the goody bags I'm making. I don't want Ophelia to experience the lack of a birthday like I did.
As I was going to ask her to finish picking out her candy so we can leave, I got a phone call. Looking at the number I sighed in relief. I had been waiting for a call from a cookie company I found who makes custom cookies. I was going to ask if they could make a few John Wick inspired cookies.
The phone call was brief. All I asked was how much it would be and that I would send them the deposit and the photos of what I wanted them to look like. As I hung up, Ophelia threw herself onto me which I wasn't expecting. "Look at all the candy I picked out!" She squealed as she opened the bag to show me.
There was everything from chocolates to rainbow strips to lollipops. I knew Jules would kill me, but her smile was too contagious. "That's good, sweetie," I reply as I hold her hand so we can go to the checkout.
The lady behind the counter was scanning the stuff and looked slightly confused. "Birthday party?" She asked, which I replied with a simple nod. "Hmm. What's the theme?"
Before I could say anything, Ophelia jumped it. "John Wick!"
The lady nearly bursted out laughing. "John wick? For you?" She looked at me, laughing still.
"I wish," I mumbled under my breath. "No it's for her fourth birthday. I was just helping her mom out to pick up some of the stuff."
"That's really sweet," she smiled as she continued to scan all the bags, glow-in-the-dark toys, and streamers. Ophelia also had to scan her candy, which she was more than eager to do, so she can eat them asap.
We walked out, and went to my truck. I buckled her into her booster seat, while I put all the bags on the floor next to her. "All buckled up?" I ask as I get into my seat. Juliette as been trying to help me teach Ophelia how to buckle herself in, and do simple tasks. So I help her slightly, but still give her that independence to learn on her own.
"Yup!" She answered.
We made one more stop at the grocery store so I could buy snacks and stuff for the kids who'd be showing up in under a week. Everything from fruit, to gummy snacks, to goldfish. I also grabbed some red pain and a couple of #2 pencils. I was going to paint the pencil in some of the red paint, and a little of the fake blood, to replicate that scene in one of the John Wick movies.
——
Ophelia was already half asleep by the time we finished putting together all the party favors. Once the sugar crash hit, she was knocked out on the couch with a slice of cheese pizza still in her hand.
Juliette said she'd be home by around this time, so I wrapped away a few slices of pizza in case she wanted some, while also cleaning up the house a bit. After yesterdays events, I wanted to make sure she was 100% back to normal.
I knew what she was talking about when she mentioned the incident. It was one of the reasons I lectured her and lost my mind when I heard she went out to a club. When she was nineteen, right before she found out she was pregnant, she went out to a club. And a guy roofied her. Thankfully her boyfriend was there to help her, but he blamed her for the whole thing.
When she told me that story I wanted to hunt both the guy and her boyfriend down and kill them with my bare hands. I was thankful my father taught me one thing, and that was combat training. Because in situations like that, I would not have hesitated one second to protect her.
So I got her favorite pizza, and some wine which I knew she likes a cup of after a long day—which she most definitely had after the text updates I was receiving of her complaining of getting a migraine from the pricks interviewing her. She told me that all there questions were about her still doing a sport that was dominated by teenagers.
I heard the click of the door opening, and in came an exhausted Juliette. I snickered. Like mother like daughter.
By now, I had already taken Ophelia to her room, took the pizza out of her hand, and didn't need to give her a bath since she took one before we ate dinner.
"Good evening, princess," I smirked as she walked in, tossing her shoes to the side and dropping all the bags she had. She was in a fleece shirt, a Olympic logo windbreaker, and sweatpants. And no matter what she wore, she always looked drop dead gorgeous in it.
"I smell and look and feel like shit," she cursed as she plopped down on the couch, giving no regards to the bags on the floor. I picked them up, noticing it was her ice skating gear, her makeup and hair bag, and a few changes of clothes.
"How are you feeling?" I ask, regarding the massive hangover she experienced this morning.
"Like shit," she repeated, but I don't think that was towards the hangover.
I held back my smirk. I loved this type of Juliette. The one that wasn't so pristine and proper. The one that was messy and showed all the good and bad sides of her. Even though I had no siblings growing up, I always had the feeling of needing to take care of people. I loved doing it ever since I was little. That's maybe why I loved hard with Serenity. Because no one was willing to take care of her when she got sick, except me.
But I try not to think about her, as I've been working hard on trying to move on. Instead, I went over to Juliette who had her feet propped up on the arm rest of the couch, and helped take off her jacket.
"I ordered pizza, but also made you those meal preps you like since I know you have practice tomorrow and need the energy," I say as I take off her socks and begin to rub her feet. She practically moaned at the sensation, and all the blood rushed out of my face and into the region between my legs.
I'll do anything to have her make that noise again.
"I'll do one pizza and the meal prep please," she said in a singsong voice. Even while in pain she always knows how to bring up a mood. "But not right now. Keep doing this." She nodded towards me messaging her feet. Her eyes closed as she threw her head against the fluffy yellow throw pillow that matched the colorful tones of the house.
I knew she was on her feet all day, but the blisters and bruises showed just how much work and pressure she put on her feet and ankles.
"How was Ophelia today?" She asks as I work my way up to her ankles.
"Good as always. We went shopping for the party, I ordered the cake and a few other stuff. We also made the party favors so all you have to do is show up this Saturday." I smiled when she looked at me with shock. It was already Sunday, and she had a week of practicing, but she always got Saturday's off. She told me how stressed she was with practicing and the party, so I hope this relieved a few of the tensions.
"Your amazing, Theo," she whispered. "Thank you."
I never thought I'd earn to hear those words from her. After everything I've done, all my mistakes and fuck ups in the past month, I didn't think I deserved it. But this is a moment I'd want to treasure.
It made everything feel too real.
The short updates are killing me as much as it's killing you, but I'm trying babes! Hoped you enjoyed!
Like and comment <3333